A Statement from the family read:

“It is with great sadness that it has been announced today that Sir Bobby Robson has lost his long and courageous battle with cancer,” read a statement released by Robson’s family. “He died very peacefully this morning at his home in County Durham with his wife and family beside him.

“Sir Bobby’s funeral will be private and for family members only. A thanksgiving service in celebration of Sir Bobby’s life will be held at a later date for his many friends and colleagues.

“Lady Robson and the family would very much appreciate it if their privacy could be respected at this difficult time.”

His last public appearence was a tribute match in his honour last sunday, between a team of England legends and Germany legends, in reference to how close Bobby got to winning the World Cup for England in the Italian Sunshine in 1990. Fittingly it was St James Park, the club he supported his entire life.

As a kid growing up he watched his beloved Newcastle from the terraces, and grew into the gentle football addict the world would love. As a player, he played wing, and won 20 caps for England during a career that saw him play for West Brom and Fulham

But it was his managerial career which he will largely be remembered for. Starting with a unsuccessful stints in the NASL and with Fulham he had a long spell at Ipswich Town, where he won both the FA and UEFA Cups. He also finished runner-up in the league on more than one occasion.

Because of his spell at Ipswich, he was given the England job. England had been in freefall since 1966, but Robson managed to establish a team that could put itself on the world stage again. Despite fail;ure to qualify for the 1984 European Championships, Sir Bobby guided England to a World Cup Quarter Final against Argentina two years later, where Diego Maradona controversially saw England knocked out.

England didn’t manage to get out of their group in Euro 88, and despite being vilified by the English Press, England supporters wrote letters of support to Sir Bobby, and often received replies. Can you imagine such a thing happening again?

So Robson led England into Italia 90, which ended in heartbreak after an iconic semi-final. You know the story, England were the better side, a deflected German goal, Gazza’s tears, and Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce’s penalty misses conspiring against us. It remains out best performance at a world cup since 1966.

After Italia 90, he joined PSV in Holland, where he picked up two league titles. He then went to portugal, first to Sporting, and then at Porto, where his success peaked the interest of Barcelona. At the Nou Camp he picked up the Copa Del Ray and European Cup Winners Cup in his first season at the club.

Eventually he got the chance to manage Newcastle, where he turned around a club struggling in the bottom half, back into a top six club, a remarkable achievement.

More important than his considerable football achievements was his genuinely nice personality and his enthusiasm for the game. He will be missed by everyone regardless of your colours.

Rest in Peace Sir Bobby.

He claims the supporter had gone over the line and he went over to shake the guys hand and calm him down. Certainly Beckham is not stranger to fans crossing the line, after England fans said some nasty things about his kids he responded in the most succinct way possible.

But I think its all a bit over the top to be honest. I understand that Galaxy fans (and perhaps MLS fans as a whole) might be a bit miffed that he’s already seemingly looking for a way out, but to be honest, his reasons seem pretty sound to me.

Indeed, really its all down to the England shirt that he is so passionate about. Back after the 2006 World Cup, Beckham, who was then England Captain gave up the armband, and then was dropped alltogether by Steve McClaren (who was desperate to prove he wasn’t just a cut-price Sven). Most of us, including presumably D-Beck thought his England career was over.

And so a trip to the MLS to slow up the end of his career, launch Brand Beckham in the US, and raise the profile of Sawker in America probably seemed like quite a good idea. After all, he had no real reason to stay in Europe anymore.

Except, of course, McClaren realized quite late that he’d been a fool, bought Beckham back, and landed him on 99 caps. When he was swiftly replaced, incoming manager Fabio Capello seemed unkeen to pick Becks if he was playing in a less competitive league than any of the big three.

So now, with Fabio content to pick Beckham as long as he’s playing in England, Italy or Spain, does it not make sense for him to knock the Galaxy on the head and try and find a way back? We all know (at least in England we do) what exactly the England shirt means to Beckham – everything.

While he’s (rightly) not playing a full part in England games any more, he’s still a valuable asset for us to have coming off the bench, and you know how much it would mean to him to get to Peter Shilton’s caps record.

Its not even as if the “Beckham Experiment” has been entirely a failure. Certainly looking at it from a European perspective he has raised the profile of the MLS by a ridiculous degree, which the press interest in his return to LA has highlighted. I can now name you a bunch of MLS teams, which I could never have done a few years ago.

He was never going to single handedly turn the MLS into one of the big leagues. All that could really be hoped from him going out there is that would give a boost in hype that would help some American’s to understand that football wasn’t entirely a game for children (a side point here, but that seems to be the case, based on every single American TV show ever). A few American’s would get into the game, a few other European talents (Ljungburg for example) would go out over there, and the MLS would get more exposure from the exodus of ageing talent.

One of the great advantages that the NY Cosmos had was that they could piece together an absolute dream team – Pelé. Neeskens, Beckenbauer for a couple of games Cruyff. The trouble is that for the LA generation, Real Madrid already did that with Figo, Zidane, Beckham, Raul, Roberto Carlos etc etc.

Anyway, my point is, I can understand why American fans are upset, but frankly the reaction has been bordering on the histrionic. Maybe that’s more a sign of the times (see also Michael Jackson) but really its not worth getting that worked up about. Or is it?

Tip of that hat to The Beautiful Game for finding this little gem.

Apparently 114 fans in Basildon watched England’s 2-1 win over Ukraine in a tank, and so set a world record for biggest underwater football crowd.

“The thing is, nowadays, is that these kids can do it, when they’re young kids, but when they’re getting older now, that’s the problem, its being taken out of them, because they’ve got to be strong…you just don’t see many players taking on other players nowadays”

He’s never been looked upon for intellegent advice – he was famously described by Bobby Robson as “Daft as a brush” (that’s quite something from someone who actually got himself mixed up with Bryan Robson) but lets be honest, he’s quite right.

Its wonderful to see. We always look to the Brazilians and marvel at their wonderful skill, and are stunned when one of our boys does it. But why? In the playground, its all anyone ever tries to get good at, beating his man. And yet, looking at the current England set-up, the only player with that flair is Joe Cole, who doesn’t seem a favourite of Capello’s even when fit and perhaps Theo Walcott.

I’m not suggesting we should have 10 Gazza’s out on the pitch, obviously that would never work. But it is a problem with English football, it shouldn’t be that when you think of European or South American football its somehow more glamorous and exciting, the days of Don Revie’s England should be long over.

Partly to blame is the Premier League, it is a hard league to an extent. Certainly Arsenal have felt the problems of playing an all-out flair game (ie the squad is filled with injuries where they get kicked to pieces), and watching the FA Cup Semi-final yesterday was rather like watching a stereotypical Italian game, fascinating to watch, wonderful in defence, very little football to get worked up about.

Its just odd that it takes a certain type of headstrong player to grow up in this country still playing the sort of flair football that fans love to see.

On a side note, it is really nice to see Gazza looking so well. He also said on MOTD2 that he no longer craves a drink and is on a strict training schedule (he actually looks much more athletic than he did in his England days!). I’ve never hidden my admiration for his ability on the pitch, and it would be nice for him to find a bit of happiness off the pitch, in an area he has so struggled in his life.

Agbonlahor has been desperately out of form as of late, the Villa striker not scoring since his last England call up, and hence his lack of place in the current squad. It seems to be Fabio’s way, to just pick whoever is in form at the moment, but I wonder if its the best long term plan, or if we should be looking for a settled squad.

To be fair, Capello geniunely seems to approach things one match at a time, he doesn’t appear, outwardly to be a long term thinker. And I’m not trying to stick the knife in, hell, its working so far.

But looking forward, say England do make the 2010 World Cup. Are we then not going to pick our best 23, but rather the 23 who’ve had the best last ten matches? It seems okay in qualifying, but I worry that we’d get found out against a side of real quality.

A good example is Carlton Cole. He’s had a good run of form this season, but really, I’m still not entirely convinced he’s England quality. A good run of form would give him confidence, sure, but when he’s staring down a Buffon or Iker, surely the fact that he actually isn’t that great would come to the fore?

I don’t want to be a doom merchant, by any means. Indeed, I have to thank Capello for making watching England a joy again rather than a chore.

Sven of course, largely went with trying to build a settled squad. He was unlucky in that players like Gerrard, Beckham, Owen and Rooney were picking up injuries in and around big tournaments. But thats the major flaw with that plan – injuries will always come.

So really I’m just pondering the question, which in the long term is the best option? Having a settled squad that knows each other inside out, but may be lacking in a bit of form, or picking whoever happens to be playing well at the minute?

1982 (Admiral)

Quite iconic in its own right, despite England not being entirely a sucess in ‘82. Here’s an England shirt that actually tries to do something a bit different from the norm – a blue and red stripe across the front. Oddly though, it works. The V-neck and tiny shorts might date it somewhat, but this is still a shirt you could get away with wearing to the pub and looking vintage, rather than just someone who couldn’t be bothered to buy the latest.

1996 (Umbro)

Football came home for Euro 96, and we were dressed for the occasion. A fairly stripped down shirt was just white, with blue trim. Badge in the middle, with a uninterferring Umbro logo just above, number underneath. Made perfect sense, especially as a national team shirt. Just don’t think about that ghastly away kit.

1966

The red is the icon here, mainly because of the amount of times you’ve seen Bobby Moore lifting that Jules Rimet Trophy. The shirt is simplicity itself, Just red, a round neck, long sleeves and the England badge. Red has been an on-off staple of the away kit ever since – but rarely have they come up with something so simple.

1979 (Admiral)

Similar to the one that followed, but without a World Cup to back it up, its sometimes unfairly forgotten. The difference between this and the 82 model is that the red and blue are pinned back to just two stripes on the sleeves. This one’s a winner, classy, simple but not plain.

1990 (Umbro)

Gazza cried, but not because of what he was wearing. Umbro’s 1990 design has become one of our iconic shirts, and one of Toffs bestsellers. Easy to see why, the umbro stuff doesn’t get in the way, and unusally, actually adds to the shirt around the sleeves.

First off, France and Italy both have magnificent anthems. I’d probably be more proud of my countries achievements if Fratelli d’Italia or La Marseillaise came on regularly enough.

Second, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (Though in rugby they play as a United Ireland, so its tricky ground for them anyway) technically don’t have national anthems. The national anthem of Great Britian is of course God Save The Queen. (sadly not this God Save The Queen) Which means England, Scotland and Wales (I wouldn’t want to get into the Ireland situation too deep) should all have God Save The Queen before matches.

Of course, they don’t. The Scots, aggrieved at the fact there is a never-sung verse to God Save The Queen that says stuff about crushing the Scots (or Jacobites as they would have been) and wanting to show independence from Britian use Flower of Scotland before football and rugby matches.

The Welsh meanwhile have Land of My Fathers, a national anthem in everything but law. In official occasions, they still have to play a snippet of God Save The Queen in conjunction with it, but the Welsh have been successful in all but establishing it as their anthem.

We need, in my view to take a leaf out of their books, for a few reasons. First, God Save The Queen is no more ours than thiers. Its the British Anthem. There’s an interesting bit in Jeremy Paxman’s (very good) book The English where he discusses the idea that the English will be the last people freed from their own Empire. Its true, to a large extent.

The other reasons are that a) God Save The Queen is a horrendous dirge that seems to sum up all the worst things about being British/English and b) Not a great many people believe in the sentiment anymore. Its entirely irrelevant, save for a few touristy Americans and nutty Middle England racists.

So its time to have another. But what I hear you ask are the contenders? Well there are a few.

First, I Vow To Thee, My Country. On the plus side its very English, very patriotic. Originally a poem, it discusses the idea of having two homes (England and Heaven) and being thankful for each. The religious side might seem irrelevant 100 years on though. It also seems to have been nabbed by the Welsh – Katherine Jenkins and Charlotte Church versions are all YouTube has.

Then there is Land of Hope and Glory. A BBC Poll in 2006 showed most people would prefer it to God Save The Queen, and the Rugby League side used it for awhile. Elgar is well loved in England – he’s on our £20 note, along with economist Adam Smith. On the downside, its technically a British Anthem, comissioned as it was by a British King.

Which leaves my personal choice, Jeruselum. Originally a poem by William Blake called “And did those feet in Ancient Time” it was set to music and renamed in 1916. Blake’s poem does a good job, for me of summing up a very English sort of patriotism.

It starts asking four questions

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among those dark Satanic mills?

All of which the answer to is No. Which seems rather unpatriotic, and is probably the reason its not been adopted yet. It even has a go at the mills of the time suggesting them alltogether unholy.

What it does though, is move into a more rousing message which would be great to hear sung defiantly by our sportspeople.

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold:
Bring me my Chariot of fire !

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

The whole idea of the poem is this: No on the face of it England isn’t amazing, but we can make it amazing. Did Jesus wonder round here? No. So lets concentrare on making the best of it that we can. Isn’t that what a national anthem should be saying, rather than, lets protect someone most of us don’t really care about?

The idea of the new logo, which takes influence from the late 40s era, is to “stand out in the digital age”. Which is lovely if they let us digital age people use it.

Nevertheless, they do serve for one thing, and thats to convince me that perhaps that godawful leaked kit that we’ve been complaining about in fact isn’t the real one.

If you have a look at the leaked kit, you’ll note that that badge on the kit appears to be carrying the old three lions logo, the darker blue is the big giveaway. Surely Umbro/The FA wouldn’t release and England kit with an out-of-date logo would they?

Although obviously the away kit is going to be carrying the old logo untill that gets a redesign this time next year. But I suppose that was always going to happen with the national teams change-one-of-the-kits-every-year-mentality.

The other thing the lighter blue suggests is a lighter blue trim on the shirt perhaps. Not sure this is the best way forward to be honest, but as long as it looks alright I shouldn’t complain too much.

So the logo change has set my mind slightly at ease. I just hope it doesn’t turn out to be something even worse…

Lets just hope it isn’t that leaked one…

Its an interesting tactic, but its a bit of a gamble. I mean, I assume sales won’t do that well if we got beat. A convincing victory however, that might mean that people start to think good things about it.

Unless it looks like that leaked one.

Its a home kit, and of course, should England qualify for 2010 (looking good at the moment), it’ll be the kit we wear out there. Mind you, if it is that leaked one, the only people wearing it will be the ten outfield players I should think. Sorry, am I going on about it a bit much? Its just because I’m a bit scared thats what its going to look like.

Idealy, I think a more back to basics shirt would be nice. I quite liked the Euro 96 ones with the badge in the middle. Just don’t think about that away kit. although to be honest, thats fine save for the colour, and the memories.

I also think blue trim is the way forward. I know, as it was pointed out to me before that the St George’s Cross is in fact White and Red, but thanks to 1966, we’ve usually got a red away kit, and I think a bit of varity is nice. We’ve had some quite nice England kits with blue trim, and it sort of is the tradition. If you have red trim on the shirt you sort of have to have red or white shorts, and it doesn’t look as athetically pleasing, for me at least.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what Umbro have come up with when we take on Slovakia. Fingers crossed they give us a classic, and not something god-awful. Assuming that that leaked one isn’t real, I would assume that the real one will be leaked before that game anyway, so we’ll keep you updated.

Out of the squad, which you can see here, six have turned their hands at football management since retiring. None have been particuarly big successes.

After the Jump I’ll run through each – but a quick thought first. Alan Shearer should never crumble and become Newcastle manager.

So, Tony Adams is first up. Captain of the squad in 1996, he has managed two teams, Wycombe and Portsmouth and has been sacked by both after short spells after picking up very few wins.

Stuart Pearce famously buried his demons of 1990 by scoring a penalty against Spain in Euro 96. His largely indifferent spell at Manchester City has been counter-balanced by his role in the England U21’s as well as a coach for the main England squad.

Paul Ince did a fairly good job at lowly MK Dons, but his step up to the Premier League didn’t last long, with Blackburn Rovers sacking him within months of his appointment.

Gareth Southgate has done better than some might have expected (considering he didn’t have the proper qualifications for the job) in his first managerial role, at Middlesbrough, but finishing 13th season after season isn’t inspiring stuff.

David Platt is still loathed by Nottingham Forrest fans, after his two-year tenure at the club plunged the team into debt, isolated many long standing players at the club. They failed to recover from a relegation from the Premier League, and have been sleeping giants ever since.

Paul Gascoigne rounds of the six. His short spell at Kettering Town was marred by his own personal problems, and alcoholism, unfortunatly his tenure lasted 39 days.

Has any other squad produced such a massive amount of non-entities manager wise?